'Ugly' is content-driven new-age cinema: Rahul Bhat

Actor Rahul Bhat, once popular for his stint in TV show "Heena", is glad that his long awaited film "Ugly" has released in theatres. He says he's confident the movie will be well-received as it is different from Bollywood's "standard masala fare".

"Audiences complain about the standard masala fare being churned out every Friday. 'Ugly' is content-driven new-age cinema. I am confident it will be well-received," Rahul said.

Rahul made his feature film debut 2002 with "Yeh Mohabbat Hai". This was followed by the atrocious comedy "Nayee Padosan", which mauled the Mehmood-Kishore Kumar-Sunil Dutt classic and almost finished off Rahul's Bollywood career.

He bounced back when Anurag Kashyap spotted him for a pivotal role in "Ugly". Those who saw Rahul in the film couldn't stop raving about him. In fact, Sudhir Mishra even signed Rahul as the protagonist in his "Devdas" remake on the basis of the actor's performance in "Ugly".

Tragically, "Ugly" became embroiled in a long dispute with the censor board with Kashyap's refusal to carry anti-smoking statutory warnings with the film. After almost two years of deadlock, Kashyap has relented and agreed to carry the statutory warning, and now "Ugly" releases Friday.

"After years of waiting, I've two films releasing -- 'Ugly' and 'Aur Devdas', with great directors (Kashyap and Sudhir Mishra). I couldn't ask for more. I'm so happy that 'Ugly' is finally releasing," he said, and added that he's proud of the film.